


First Day

by BWolf_20



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: End of the Savior war, Gen, Minor Violence, Negan captured, Negan getting roughed up, Prisoner of War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:08:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29753154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BWolf_20/pseuds/BWolf_20
Summary: Though Negan put up an unconcerned front, he’s not looking forward to the trek from the recovery room to Rick’s cell. As much as he feels it’s all a joke, there’s several signs pointing out that his new life behind bars won’t be as easy as he imagines it would be.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	First Day

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really interested in stories dealing with Negan being a prisoner, and sadly there's hardly any. Often times they're not canon as they include romantic pairings that don't exist in the show, and I'm often looking for Gen fics. I've been interested in creating a fic centered on Negan being taken to his cell for the first time. I hope in time I'd have time to write a longer fic dealing with him getting used to prison life.

If he was being honest with himself, he really didn’t want to leave the hospital. Even if it meant his wrists would be free of the cuffs binding him to the bed, he really didn’t want to experience what followed. Grimly Negan stared at the door, awaiting Rick’s arrival. Their so-called doctor had apparently believed he was well enough to be moved to his new room, and no matter how much Negan joked about still feeling troubled about his previously cut throat, Siddiq didn’t give into his desire for more time in recovery. He knew, so there was no fooling the doctor.

Negan huffed as he forced down the anticipation hard. He couldn’t delay this day any longer. All he could hope for was that Rick somehow forgot or had other more important things to do.

“Bastard,” he growled under his breath. 

He’d had it all worked out, his victory in the war. He had gone as far as to shoot a dummy he had set up to be Rick, and smiled as he imagined the real version falling to the ground crying out in pain. He was supposed to win. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. He wasn’t supposed to wind up a prisoner to his enemy. All he could hope for was that enough of his people had been spared so they could come and free him, but strangely enough he didn’t have much faith in that. His side had truly been defeated.

The door clicked open and much to his annoyance Negan felt that twinge of nervousness rise in his gut.

“Shit,” he cursed quietly. 

Rick entered the room with his eyes immediately set on Negan. In his hands he carried a revolver. Negan masked his inner turmoil by spreading a grin across his face, and it didn’t falter as more people entered behind Rick. Daryl, Michonne, and Siddiq had all come to witness this moment.

“I see none of you assholes brought me any flowers,” he teased. “Don’t you know that’s what you’re supposed to do when you’re visiting a patient? Any of you wind up in here, I ain’t bringing you shit.”

“You wouldn’t be able to even if you wanted to considering where you’re going,” Rick reminded him coldly. He handed his gun over to Michonne who immediately trained her gun on Negan. Said man just kept smiling as Rick approached with a key.

“Don’t try anything stupid,” he warned.

“Same goes for you,” Negan threw back in his face. Rick’s famous stink eye made it onto his face, and that alone made him feel better. If he could still push Rick’s buttons, this wouldn’t be so bad. Breaking the man in the beginning hadn’t been hard, so he was certain he could do it again. And once Rick broke down, his whole plan of turning him into a prisoner would be over with.

A sudden strike of pain rolled across Negan’s face, caused by a punch that seemed to come out of nowhere. 

“Son of a…” Negan growled and turned to see Daryl on his other side, looking eager and ready to deliver another punch to his face.

“Daryl, easy,” Siddiq warned in concern over his patient.

“You don’t give demands anymore,” Daryl growled to Siddiq’s onetime patient. “You’re a damn prisoner now. Time to get use to keeping your mouth shut.”

“I guess making bail is off the table then,” Negan joked. He kept up his grin as he looked back at the angry brunette.“I can’t help but think my time as a prisoner’s gonna be a hell of a lot cozier than yours was. No shitty dog food sandwiches, no shitty-ass music to listen to over and over again. You remember all that Daryl?”

Daryl made to punch him again but this time he was held back by Siddiq.

“Don’t bother,” Rick said to Daryl, “Let him run his mouth. He’ll be shutting up soon enough.”

“Not unless you plan to muzzle me prick,” Negan sneered. 

“Don’t try anything,” Rick warned again in a sharper tone. “You got him Michonne?”

Michonne moved closer with her finger on the trigger.

“I’m ready.”

Rick gave a nod and proceeded to unlock his left wrist from the bed.

“No need to go to all this trouble,” Negan continued in his joking manner. “Ask nicely and I would’ve walked to your stupid cell.”

Once his left hand was free, Negan had a strong urge to catch Rick off guard with a nice punch to the jaw, but he wasn’t stupid enough to try it with a gun on him. He cast his gaze at Michonne as Rick handed Daryl another key to unlock his other cuffed hand. The woman seemed to be daring him to try something. 

“Why don’t you tell your boyfriend to go easy on me. You beat my ass, and I’m man enough to admit it.”

She huffed as if finding his words humorous.

“Not buying it.”

“Honey, I’ve been nothing but straight up with you people. Now had you bastards just stuck with the program, old Ricky boy wouldn’t have to play cop. On top of that, you wouldn’t have lost so many people to mine.”

The strike of pain across his face returned as Daryl delivered yet another surprise punch. It was harder than the first, and Negan couldn’t help the cry of pain that had escaped his lips.

“I said keep your mouth shut.”

Negan gritted his teeth and refrained from saying more. 

“On your feet.” Rick ordered. 

Negan wasn’t ready to be hauled out of his bed, but his new warden gave him no choice as he gripped an arm and hauled him forward. Daryl quickly moved around the other side and grabbed ahold of Negan while Rick grabbed a hand and twisted it behind his back. The grimace of anger made its way onto Negan’s face as the situation became more real. A tremor of panic hit him as he felt the first cuff lock over his wrist. He wanted to pull away as Rick reached for his other wrist, but the glare on Daryl’s face warned him that he’d regret making any wrong move.

“Come on, can’t we talk about this?” Negan started after the second cuff clicked over his other hand, effectively trapping his hands behind his back. 

“There’s nothing to talk about, unless you’d prefer to settle for execution,” Rick replied.

That response actually made the ex-Savior a little nervous. No, living was a lot better than getting his head blown off.

“I thought I was supposed to set an example for your people,” Negan countered. “The whole being civil spiel you fed to me. That all bullshit? If it wasn’t, execution can’t be on the table, unless you decided it’s the best way to prove to your people that you have balls. I’m sure they’re smart enough to know you lost yours that night I had you begging and crying on the ground.”

He gave a yelp of surprise as Rick suddenly snatched onto his hair and forced his head back.

“You want to keep pretending none of this is serious, fine by me, but just know it’ll only get harder for you if you do.”

He released his hold, and Negan was annoyed to feel a flush of embarrassment for the power Rick had over him now. There he was, standing with his hands cuffed behind him and a gun trained on him at all times, with three other people witnessing him being forced into submission. His gut twisted unpleasantly as his mind threatened to remind him how bad he’d screwed up.

“Let’s go,” Rick ordered as he made for the door.

Daryl got behind Negan and pushed him roughly forward. 

With some hesitation Negan began walking toward the door. He glanced over at Siddiq who followed his movements quietly, but showed no signs of following them out. Michonne maneuvered around at the back with Daryl with the gun still ready to fire.

Negan didn’t concern himself with the idea that she might get a little trigger happy. All he concentrated on was following Rick. He couldn’t even hold his head up high knowing what was coming. All he could hope for was that this jail of Rick’s was a real joke. People really didn’t bother taking prisoners anymore unless they had some use for them. He had taken Daryl with the intention of turning him into a fellow Savior. He frowned upon remembering that he had failed at getting that to happen as well. 

He cursed when his eyes hit the light as Rick opened the door to lead them out. Negan actually found himself wishing it had been night so that the majority of the community would be sound asleep. The next best thing he could have hoped for was that he’d be ignored as people went about their day. But it was no such luck as he noticed that a crowd had formed in the vicinity. The people kept their distance of course, but their eyes were on the shackled man following behind their leader. 

Negan wanted to ask them if they had nothing better to do than to watch him, but their presence kept him quiet. Their watching eyes increased the unease in his gut. Familiar faces were among the watching bunch. There was a young man and a dark haired woman he recognized as being part of the lineup that night. Sadly Carl wasn’t there, and Negan would be fine with him being present if it meant he’d be alive. But the one person whose presence did surprise him was Maggie. The woman’s face was a mask of anguish and betrayal, and it was obvious to Negan that she didn’t want to see him walking to a cell. If she were able to, he knew she would have assassinated him as he passed. Even though he knew he was safe, catching her eyes had him a little shaken. He turned away, focusing on the ground just as some members of the crowd began to jeer and clap. What a treat this was for them.

“Guess you’re the big man again huh Rick,” he said with an air of hollowness. The man didn’t glance back at him. “All this help your ego? Wanted to show your people how great and powerful Rick Grimes is by gathering them to watch me parade by. Hope you passed out cameras so they can capture the damn show.”

“I didn’t ask them to come watch you,” Rick growled without looking back at him. “They wanted to see for themselves, that the so-called great and powerful Negan gets put out of sight once and for all.” He looked around at him with a kind of determination in his eyes that quite impressed Negan. “They’re here to watch justice being served.”

After a minute Negan gave him that shit-eating grin. 

“Justice to them would be seeing my head chopped off, or bashed in with my own bat.”

“Give me a reason to go in that direction and they’ll get it,” Rick warned.

“Then your plan for me won’t work after all.”

“It will,” Rick said with enough certainty that Negan could almost believe it would happen.

But the thought scared him. To be frightened of spending the rest of his life behind bars was pathetic. Daryl had managed, then again he hadn’t spent years behind bars. If he had he was sure the man might have gone insane. He shook his head at it as he reeled himself back. He wasn’t like Daryl. He never scared easily. Rick’s plan wouldn’t undo him. He was sure of it.

He choked and stumbled as something hard struck him aside the left side of his face. Apparently someone in the crowd had thrown a partially empty can at his person. Seemed everyone had it out for harming his pretty face.

“HEY!” Rick yelled at who ever had thrown the object.

“Want me to handle it?” Daryl asked. 

“After we get him settled, I’ll deal with it,” Rick said with a quick look at a groaning Negan. 

It was embarrassing. He was something to be jeered at instead of someone to fear. If his people saw him now, they’d laugh. With the thought of his people in mind, he turned to Rick again.

“Hey prick, what’d you do to my people? You kill them all off, or are they sitting up cozy in their own cells?”

“You’re the only one who gets the honor of living in a cell. And don’t worry about the Saviors. They aren’t your people anymore.”

“No matter what, they’ll always be my—”

This time Daryl struck the back of his head, but it was hard enough to make him stumble.

“I’ll take out your tongue if you can’t control your mouth,” he growled. 

“Ignore him,” Michonne reminded him.

Negan chuckled softly but didn’t bother responding. His mouth was starting to feel dry as Rick turned toward a house. Waiting at the stairs leading down was Gabriel holding a bible. Somehow him standing there with the stern expression and the bible folded under his hands made the experience all the more real to Negan. 

“Not in much of a reading mood,” he said to Gabriel as Rick led him down the stairs and toward the door. 

“I’ll be doing the reading, once you’re settled.”

Negan looked away from him. His thoughts showed him that moment where he had held the gun to the back of his head, ready to kill him off along with the rest of Rick’s people. It hadn’t happened thanks to Eugene, and because of that Gabe not only got to sock him in the face that day, he also got to live. In truth he didn’t feel angry about it. In some strange way he was kind of glad that the priest had made it.  
His attention was brought to the opened door and he came to a stop. Daryl’s push was the only thing that got him to follow Rick inside. And inside, Negan was greeted with the prison Rick had boasted about. It looked anything but cozy with the harsh steel bars with the cold stone wall behind it, and nothing but a simple cot inside for sleeping, and a bucket serving as a toilet. It was depressing, more so with the lack of good lighting. It all came from the bared window inside the cell, his only source to the outside. But with his cell in the basement of the house, it gave him little to observe above ground.

A chill traveled through Negan at the sight of it, and he actually found himself stepping back.

“Scared?” Rick questioned. “You should be.”

“I’m not afraid of shit,” Negan grumbled. It was easier to lie about it.

“Then this should be no problem.” Rick pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the door while Negan roamed his eyes around every corner of it, hoping to see a mistake in the design. Something that would show he hadn’t built a good enough cell to keep him in place.

The sound of it opening pulled him back to attention. Rick stood aside next to a wide opened cell that seemed to be welcoming him in, in a rather dark way. Negan hated that his stomach was doing flip flops, and it was impossible to plaster an unconcerned grin across his face.

“Get in,” Rick ordered.

Daryl pushed him forward in encouragement, causing Negan to stumble badly. Apparently his legs had locked up while being faced with his new home.

“Rick, what’s this gonna prove?” It wouldn’t hurt to try one last time to stall, even though he knew it was pointless now.

Rick joined Daryl and together that escorted him in. Negan’s legs barely worked to move him inside. Dread rolled over him, and his mouth felt dryer than ever. He was barely aware of Rick unlocking the cuffs. All he could do now was stare blankly at the gray wall in front of him, wondering how he had gotten here. He was barely aware of his hands dropping down to his side now that they were free.

“Welcome to your new home,” Rick whispered in his ear.

Negan hated that it made him twitch in fear. He ground down and turned just as Rick had walked out and closed the door. He swallowed thickly as the man inserted the key and turned, effectively locking him away from the world. Rick looked at him afterwards, along with Daryl and Michonne. Negan took them in from his perspective behind the bars. On the night he first met them, they were all kneeling at his feet looking up at him in fear. Had he known it would lead to where he was now, he would have killed them all then. But it was too late. Things were reversed now, and there was nothing he could do about it.

“You really think this is gonna break me Ricky?” He pulled up his best grin yet; one that mimicked his old self, when he still had power. “This is a damn cake walk. And here I thought you were trying to punish me.”

Rick gave a huff of amusement before a smirk graced his face.

“It’s only the first day,” he reminded him. “Tell me it’s a damn cake walk years from now.”

It felt like a slap in the face. Unconsciously Negan’s eyes widened at that before his face settled on expressing his grim fate. Daryl and Michonne made for the door, but Rick stayed, watching him closely. Negan wanted to curse him out. He wanted to rant and rave, but the energy to do so wasn’t really there. All he could do was look back at the man in disbelief for his victory over him.

“I’ll be back later with your new wardrobe. Til then, start getting used to your new home because you’re never leaving it.”

Rick walked away then, and when the door closed behind him Negan felt his situation was all the more real and serious. He was really here, in this cell, and there was no way out. He would have to spend the rest of his life behind these bars, with the only escape being death. 

Negan slumped onto the cot and stared across the room. There was nothing but silence greeting his ears now. The darkness of the room also didn’t help. 

“How the fuck am I gonna do this?” he muttered to himself.

He had to find some way to endure it. He really wanted to believe that it would be easy, but his gut was telling him differently. His gut right now was telling him, that Rick knew what he was doing; that this was a proper punishment for what he had done to his people, and that he would suffer.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love to see more fics along prison life Negan. I think it'd be interesting. Thanks for reading :)


End file.
